Improved method of obtaining motive power



UNITED4 STATES PATENT` CFFIcE.

WILLIAM M. STORM, oF TRovv,.NEw YORK.

IMPROVED METHOD OF OBTAINING NITIVE POWER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent-No. 7,922, dated Febriary 4, 1851.

.To all whom itmay concern.:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM M. STORM, of

New York, (now residing at Troy, New York,) have invented an Improved Mode of Obtainlng Motive Power, which I have termed the Aerogen Insto-Motivm and I hereby declare the following to'be-a full and exact description thereof.

The fundamental principle of my invent-ion consists in producing and applying as a motive force the sudden expansion. or increased tension produced by the intensely-rapid combustion or` the explosion of asolid combustible ln'a compressed gaseous supporter of 'combustion.- For manifold reasons the mostadvantageous combustible is carbon in the form of a charcoal, and'air the best supporter that can be employed. The air shonld-be compressed to a density Several times exceeding that otithe atmosphere, and the charcoal should be granulated. Both combustible and supporter shouldbe fed and consumed in charges. The conditions essential to the proper application 0r rather the combined operation of these principles may be best elucidated by a sketch.

Annexed is one of a mechanism which, although not intended as appropriate to use, serves to illustrate thel conditions above named and that in practiceshould be carried Aout, although it be in a different form.

Let A represent a rotary engine, and B a double-acting compressing air-pump, surrounded by its cooler C for absorbing in part the caloric expelled by compression f rom the air, and which if left free would cause unnecessary and serious reaction. Let D represent a compressedfair receiver' and reservoir, and 'E a carbon feeder and reservoir with its charger F.. Let .G represent a discharge-chamber communicating with the cylinder' H of the engine, and from about oue-Iiftieth to one-hundredth of the capacity ggthereof, (these proportions bcingsubject, however, to greatvariatiom) and communicating also, by means of vthe pipe A', with the re.

ceiver D, and also, as seeirby the sketch, with the charger l". Letl represent an insulated Leyden jar, and 1I a rotary magnetic electro-generator. y X is the eduction of the engine. New place granulated or pulverized charcoal in the feeder E and let the air-pu mp B compress air into the receiver I) to such a density as will enable 'it when in conta-ct 'with kept under control, the further operations of charging and discharging I'nay be described as follows; Thepcut-oi B being opened, a

charge of the combustible will descend from the -feeder.E into the charger F. l5 then closes. C then opens and theA charge of combustible descends or passes into the dischargechamber G. U' then closes. The cnt-oft" or cock D between the reservoir D and the ehainber G in the pipe A then opens, and achargc of compressed air passes from D through A to G. D'then closes, shutting off all communication from the dischargelehamber,.and the combustibleand supporter are' nowelosely continedtogether in proportions proper for combination witheach other by combustion, (the surplus, if ofeither, should beef the sup-- porter,) although as yet their combustion has not taken place; butthe ignition-wire c projecting into the discharge-chamber G' and connected by the chain E or other conductor of electricity to a discharging-rod F', which is nowbronght in contact-with the prime conductor G of the `Leyden jar I, which .is supposed to be kept charged by the action ofthe rotating magnetic electro generator J, -the passa-ge of the electric chargethrough x' will ignite the charge in G, the carbon and the oxygen of the air suddenly combining by combustion and forming, according to their relative proportions, carbonio oxide or carbonic acid, or, as may occur, a portion of each, which, together' with the nitrogen which had constituted previous' to combustion a part vof the atmosphericsupporter, will be suddenly expanded, or the gaseous compound b ,will have its elastic tension (considerable in its previous form) greatly increased by the heat evolved in the explosion and strike the ,reaction 'cam or projection ll (at this mon' ment to bc in the position represented in the skctch,) with a'strong impact, and, reacting between it and the sliding piston J, (pressed from its case by thev gases passing through andbehind it,) will cause the wheel l', of which ll `is apart, to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow, the effect produced being somewhat similar' in natureto the explosion of gunpowder, though much less vio-V lent. ltshould be observed thatthe admis sion of Athe charge into G, or at least of the supporter, is supposed to take place while ll is passing G and closing all communication with the rest of the engine.

The principle of the aerogen power, among otherthin gs, might, with a proper adaptation -of the operating mechanism, be applied to engines of war--as cannon and-roth er firearms-by exploding gunpowder or any other explosive solid compound, fas a substitute for carbon, simply, inair compressed and confined `with it; but this mode of obtaining power being comparatively much more lcostly than the method previously described, not to mention many other great disadvantages that would ensue if applied to general purposes, it needs no further description. The same may be remarked as to the substitution of oxygen gas (to be obtained bythe distillation of a nitrate or an oxide)'for air as t-he supporter.

-In applying the aen-ogen principle, the more high] y compressed the supporter may be the vgreater will be the initial pressure of the gases at the moment of combustion, the capacity of gases for caloric, as is well known, being nearly inversely as their density, and therefore their increase of elastic tension at the moment of their being heated being 'directlyas their density previous thereto, and this is an important consideration,inasmuch as the said increase, together with some considerable attendant expansion of the gases beyond their original volume previousto compression, constitutes the net motive forcegaine'd. Continued practice alone, however, can decide what density'of the supporter is generally best and all'thing-s consideredthe most economical. eived that one reason why it-is essential to use the carbon in a cracked. or pulverized form is that if it 4were not reduced to some uniform consistency it could scarce `be controlled or its-quantity regulated in the feeding; but there are other reasons the ignition could not, as is highly necessary, bc punctually and so thoroughlyeected, and it would bel diicult to effect explosion at all werethe combustible not previous tovuse subjected to the process of cracking, or -by some means either 'before or lafter cliarring reduced to the granulated or` pulverized form.

As I have before mentioned, the mechanism herein described is not exactly adapted for practicalpurposes, but' is introduced the better to elucidate the main points involved and to be observed in the application of the aerogcn principle, or rather to show the It will probably be perprinciple itself. Yet in any case a dischargechamber, with means of shutting oi'fall connection with the reservoirs, a carbon reservoir or feeder, a charger of some kind, are apparatus for compressingthe air, and a means 'of thoroughly igniting the charge would be. indispensable. A reservoir for compressed air might be dispensed with, but not conveniently, by causing the force-pump to compress each charge of t-he supporter at the proper period directly into the discl1arge chamber.

Ordinary combustion, even though ',conducted in the manner here described-that is, in a discharge-chamber, &c.-would produce but a comparatively triiing effect. It is desirable, therefore, thatcombustion should be To this end the supporter should be 'dry and dense, the latter. that it may by occupying less space be broughtmore immediatelyin contact with the-comb`ustiblc vivid and sudden.

and by its increased elasticity more capable of permeating the pores thereof, and so in a situation enabling it to combine more unimpeded and instantly with `the Icombustible and morewithin the sphere of the electric attraction that ensues. between an ignited com bustible and supporter. The combustible should be dry and, if convenient, even heated; It should be granulated, which not only adapts it to be fedV in charges, but, what is of as great importance, it enables the supporter to mingle more thoroughly through the mass yof the charge and exposes an'immensely greater' surface of the combustible to thevsupporter and combustion` in no case whatever. I assume, even in gases elsewhere than at the surface of contacts between the combustible and supporter and the points'upon which the greatest rapidity of combustion depends, assuming the combustible and supporter tobe pure and dry as possible, may be summed up thus: first, the presence of all the oxygen necessary to the entire combustion of vthe combustible; second, the greatest possible surface of contact between the supporter and combustible; and third, the most thorough and simultaneousignition of thecoinbustible at as many points as possible.

I am aware that combustibles and supporters, both gaseous, as oxygen and hydrogen, have been compressed and exploded in close vessels to produce motive power; but no prctically useful result li'as thus far been attained, as those gases, even were they nottoo costly, their compression together' toany great degree, which is a principal source of economy, destroys their explosive properties by effecting partial recombination, and so aqueous vapor in all probability; :md5-.moreover, these gases, from their very nature,

yield only an impracticable kind of power-, giving when exploded together, first, a brief produced by the explosion being through the caloric thereby set i' ree converted into vapor,v

, dinary circumstances no vacuum would be' formed, but an initial expansive `force or on- 'ward pressure of perhaps about three atmospheres, the capacity of the vessel (if a separateone were used) in which the explosion takes place being necessarily about one-third as great as ,the cylinder or vessel intowhlch the remaining gases, principally carbonic acid and nitrogen, are allowed to expand to make their power available, and the compression ot' carbureted hydrogen or coalgas with any supporter could not be carried to an extentthat would render the ultimate result substantially dierent or yield more power with economy sufficient for practice. From these and other facts itiwouldbe iniferred that carbon in the form of a charcoal is the onlycoinbustible advantageously to be used ingeneral practice for the production of motive power immediately by combustion, it being most manageable and is economical and generally procurable, as also is atmospheric air compressed the most advantageous and economical supporter,.being omnipresent and absolutelycostless.

I am also aware that air compressed to some extent and again expanded by the conibustion in it of coal,- charred and nncharred,

has been tried as a means of motive power,

but-not that s uch compression was ever carried to near such an extent as toproduce anything bordering on explosion,and whereby a vastly different result would have been attained both as regards power and economy, 0r that such attempts were so managed that the whole effect of combustion might act unimpeded and as directly as possible upon the piston, and the initial expansive force thereby not he dissipated lin unnecessary space,- or that the combustible and supporterwere consumed in regular charges,lor that the ebnveyance of the combustible and supporter, and particularly the last, into the furnace used in such cases did not take place against the pressure of 'the gases-therein evolved and expanded and against its own reaction caused by the' continuous combustion therein, and

. this dithculty, beside many others incident to this mode, unless strictly obviated, would, owing to the reaction upen and resistance to the compressing force which must bc derived from the expansive force, in all cases too nearly equalize or greatly waste the latter for any amount of power to be thus realized that wonldfor practical purposes be Worthy of notice. .t A theoretical estimate of the4 power to be obtained on the aerogen principle maybe derived from the following data: Dalton (scc- New System of Chemical Philosophy, vPart First.) asserts the spccilic .caloric of air as compared to that of waterto be for equah Again, one pound of charcoal (costing, when ready for use on, the

weights as 1.7i) to 1.00.

aerogen principle, say, one-halt of one cent) will,accordng to other well-known authors,.

raise the iemperature of thirteen, thousand pounds of water l" Fal1renheitand 1f these relations of quantity to temperature hold good in the main, asis to be presumed, one thousand pounds A13" Fahrenheit, and so on.

Carbon will combine with two and two-thirds Y times its weight of oxygen, two andtwo-thlrds grains ot' which are found at a mean of the barometer and thermometer in about thirtylive to thirty-eight-.cubical inches of atmospheric air, which then would bethe quantity necessary for the entire combustion. of onegrain of carbon in acheinical view, and which, according to the above data, would be heated by this combustion to about 640 Fahrenheit, and although this result differs slightly from those derived from theenperiment's of different authors, it appears to agree" closely with vpractical,observations made by experieneed engineers on the bulk of the products of combustion in furnaces of a; given weight of carbon. Again, accordingto Dalton and authors in general, gaseous fluids are expanded un-v der a constant pressure of one atmosphere one four hundred and seventy-ninth of their volume at zero for each elevation of thelrtemperature of 1 Fahrenheit. Hence, s u p posin g the augmentation to 640`Fahrenheit 4in temperature of the above amount of air to take y place-under a constantpressure of one atmosphere, it would be increased in volume about twoand one-third times.

To ascertain the-tension, which I will l'etbe represented by p, effected by caloric in air whencompressed, and thus of an increased density, I may say, let K equal 15, the pressure per square inch in pounds of the airat the ordinary density and temperature, let it equal the density to which'it may have been reduced by compression, let ct equal one four hundred'and seventy-ninth, the augmentation of volume for each increase of temperature of l" Fahrenheit, let t equal 640 Fahrenheit, the temperature to which carbon by the foregoing data will raise the amount of air chemically necessary for its combustion underthe ordinary pressure and density and We obtain pzlrl (Nro, t) for the expression of the elastic force of any gas-in a function of its density and temperature, (see Pneumatics, Brandes Encyc., page 9-17 but, again, as is well kmwn, compressed gases 'are sensitive to caloric in proportion to such compression, their capacity for caloric being held nearly inversely as their density, and thus thetemresult for the expenditure of one cent on this principle for fuel, and any degree of density ot the air for supporting the combustion that will produce a-combustion bordering on eX- 'plosion 0r a'sudden combustion and impact will yield a power notonly more economical by far than steam or any other known artiiicial power, but the danger from explosion is comparatively annihilated7 to which may be added the advantages involved in -its application of immensely greater lightness and eompactness and its being ever ready at a moments notice. I

Having thus fully described the nature of myinvention and pointed out its distinctions from all others, whatl claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States, 1s-

1. Aetuating aL engine such as'are new usually driven hy steam, or of any convenient torni, by `means of the combustion allied to an explosion of a. measured or detailed quantity of a charcoal (or other solid carbonaceous fuel similar in nature and of like elfeet) in a measured quantity of highly-compressed air;

.-(or oxygein) said ombustioubeing eected` in a vessel which at that time is not in conneet-ion either with the reservoir or main source of compressed air or with that of the charcoal, and the gases resulting from each separate and. distinct explosion being allowed to act on the pistons or their quivalents be-V fore the other charges are introduced ntothe exploding orcombustion vessel, the whole operation being effected through the agency of apparatus in nature substantially such as are herein speeitled,or apparatus that shall effect the whole operation in the manner claimed.

Y 2. Actuatingan engineasjustelainiedulsing the combustible in a granulated or pulverzed form, for the purposes and various reasons made known.

. WM. M. STORM. Witnesses: i

P. McMANUs, Moses WARREN 

